Team rivalry and lending on crowdfunding platforms:an empirical analysis

Background:Prosocial crowdfunding helps the underprivileged obtain non-profitseeking loans from multitudinous lenders.Some platforms introduce teamcompetition to motivate member participation and may thus induce team rivalry.Methods:We investigate how team rivalry affects lending decisions using data fromKiva.org.We argue that a rivalry relationship may engage teams to compete directlyagainst rivals by lending to the same project or prevent them from doing sobecause they intend not to cooperate.Result:We find that a team is less likely to lend to a project that has receivedfunding from its rival team,suggesting that rival teams tend to avoid cooperation.Conclusions:We discuss the implications of our findings for crowdfundingand competition-based motivation mechanisms in general.

Securitization and State Sponsorship of Non-State Actors: Analyzing the Saudi-Iranian Rivalry

This article investigates the dynamics of rivalry and state sponsorship of non-state actors by explaining the Saudi-Iranian rivalry through the lens of securitization theory.The study elucidates that despite the enduring nature of their rivalry,both Iran and Saudi Arabia have exhibited a degree of restraint in escalating their conflicting dyadic relationship.It further notes that this behavior has forced them to securitize various issues in the region,framing them as potential threats to national and regime security,that has allowed them to build alliance and provide critical support to nonstate actors across the region.By so doing,Tehran and Riyadh seek to expand their influence and hunt their strategic and tactical objectives within the Middle East.This policy is primarily driven by geopolitical concerns rather than ideological or ethnic entitlements.

A Sour Milk Rivalry

A libel scandal involving Mengniu taints its image and deals a blow to China’s dairy industry Mengniu,with the 2008 milk contamination incident still fresh in people’s memories,has brought China’s dairy industry into the spotlight again-this time the attention focused on a bitter rivalry.

Resurgence of Geopolitical Rivalry in the MENA after the‘Arab Spring’

With the surge of developments in the Middle East and North Africa,the political and geopolitical equations of this region have undergone major transformations and a new geometry of power is emerging.In this regard,alongside the role of great powers and state actors,the growth and influence of nongovernmental and paramilitary groups is remarkable and has found an important place in the regional equations.Consequently,the set of factors including the interventionist approach of some great powers,different and contradictory Islamic ideologies and the growth of extremism and paramilitary forces in the region has intensified the strategic rivalry between regional powers,with the formation of three major axes;the Iran-led Shiite axis,the Saudi-led Salafist axis and the Turkish-led Brotherhood axis.In this regard,the purpose of the present article is to determine how the so-called Arab Spring developments have changed the power equations in the Middle East and North Africa and led to the formation of new axes?The findings of the paper suggest that myriad factors including internal vulnerabilities,social structure and also elite consensus and cohesion have resulted in the different approaches adopted by each of regional blocs.Furthermore,as a result of Arab Spring developments,the influence of some regional powers,like Iran,has been on the rise,while some others including Egypt have become marginalised and the efforts of some regional powers to further their influence have been unfruitful.The research method is descriptive-analytic;documentary and reliable internet-based sources have been used to support the argument.

Globalization Under the Spells of Breakdowns in Supply Chains, Regime Change, Regime Formation, and Alliance Restructuring: How Much Is Left for Public Goods?

In a paper conceived about five years ago(“Globalization and Public Goods:Too Big to Tackle?”)roughly a dozen factors were linked to explain important causal paths from globalization to the potential output of public goods.The Russian invasion of Ukraine,the corona epidemic,and the increased hegemonic rivalry between China and the U.S.interrupted or even destroyed many of the linkages between globalization and potential public good production.About five important detrimental paths involved in the meantime.In the present article we aim at linking what is left from the previous level of globalization or emerging to form a new and simplified causal model for likely linkages between truncated or(re-)emerging globalization,and the deadly needed output of public goods.These linkages refer to rules of climate control,go to trade linkages and arbitrary tariffs and trade interventions.Regime change,regime formation,and alliance restructuring address aspects of domestic rule and international stability.Selectorate theory,regime type,and exit options for political elites provide key explanatory factors in explaining globalization and public goods productions,or their decay.Where possible we use some data and transformation experiences corroborating our arguments.In other instances need for further empirical macro research will become clear.

Characteristics and Trends of the Biden Administration’s Latin American Policy

Since taking office in 2021, US President Joe Biden has rectified former President Trump’s domestic and foreign policies. However, Biden has continued the Trump administration’s idea of “excluding China and protecting the courtyard,” which permeates the entire process of policy adjustment on Latin America. The purpose is to damage and hinder China–Latin America relations and cooperation. After the outbreak of the Russia–Ukraine conflict, the Biden administration intensified efforts to exclude extraterritorial forces represented by China and Russia that seek to regain control of the backyard to a greater extent. The Biden administration has made progress in easing the antagonism between the US and Latin America and repairing ally system in the western hemisphere, however, its efforts to reshape U.S.–Latin America relations have encountered many challenges.

AB016.Cholinergic enhancement reduces the temporary shift in perceptual eye dominance induced by a few hours of monocular occlusion

Background:A few hours of monocular deprivation with a diffuser eye patch temporarily strengthens the contribution of the deprived eye to binocular vision.This shift in favour of the deprived eye is characterized as a form of adult visual plasticity.Studies in animal and human models suggest that neuromodulators can enhance adult brain plasticity in general.Specifically,acetylcholine has been shown to improve certain aspects of visual function and plasticity in adulthood.We investigated whether a single administration of donepezil(a cholinesterase inhibitor)could further augment the temporary shift in perceptual eye dominance that occurs after two hours of monocular patching.Methods:We conducted three experiments to investigate whether donepezil enhances the shift in perceptual eye dominance induced by monocular patching.In each experiment,healthy adults completed two experimental sessions while taking either donepezil(5 mg,oral)or a placebo(lactose)pill.In experiment 1 we patched the non-dominant eye for 2 hours and measured ocular balance with a binocular phase combination task.In experiment 2 we patched for one hour to investigate whether donepezil shortens the amount of time necessary to observe a shift in ocular dominance.In experiment 3 we patched for 2 hours and measured ocular balance with a binocular rivalry task to see if the effect of donepezil was comparable across the two tasks.We calculated AUCs for the shift in perceptual eye dominance across five time points after removing the patch to compare our treatment conditions in each experiment.Results:Donepezil significantly reduces the magnitude and duration of the shift in perceptual eye dominance produced by both 2(P<0.01)and 1 hours(P<0.05)of monocular patching when measuring ocular balance with a binocular phase combination task.Donepezil also reduces the magnitude of the shift in ocular dominance when measuring balance with a binocular rivalry task.Conclusions:Previous studies have demonstrated that cholinergic potentiation enhances adult brain plasticity.Because of this,we hypothesized donepezil would further augment the strength of the deprived eye after patching.Our study demonstrates that enhanced cholinergic potentiation actually interferes with the consolidation of the perceptual eye dominance plasticity induced by several hours of monocular deprivation.These results contribute to the growing evidence that cholinergic potentiation enhances certain forms of adult brain plasticity at the expense of others.

Physical contact, volatiles, and acoustic signals contribute to monogamy in an invasive aggregating bark beetle

The behavioral strategies and mechanisms by which some insects maintain monogamous mating systems are not well understood.We investigated the mating system of the bark beetle Dendroctonus valens,and identified several contributing mechanisms.Field and laboratory observations suggest the adults commonly form permanent bonds during host colonization.Moreover,it showed mated females that remained paired with males produced more offspring than mated females that were alone in galleries.In bioassays,a second female commonly entered a gallery constructed by a prior female.Videos show she commonly reached the location of the first female,but they did not engage in actual fighting.Rather,the second female typically departs to form her own gallery.Acoustic signaling likewise does not appear to influence female-female encounters,based on controlled muting experiments.Instead the intruder appears to perceive the residents presence by physical contact.Both acoustic signals and volatiles released by females during gallery constructing were shown to attract males.After a male joined a female in a gallery,the male-produced aggressive sounds,which were shown by playback to deter other males from entering the gallery.Unlike female-female interactions,resident males use their head and rear to push intruders out of galleries.Additionally,volatiles released by males during feeding repelled intruding males,discouraging them from entering the gallery.Males also construct plugs that block the entrance,which may prevent subsequent males and predators from entering the gallery.Thus,D.valens has evolved multifaceted mechanisms contributing to single pairings that confer benefits to both sexes.

Female competition for availability of males in insects:the Nezara viridula(Linnaeus,1758)model

Multimodal communication in solitary stinkbugs enables them to meet,mate and copulate.Many plant-dwelling species exchange information during the calling phase of mating behavior using substrate-borne vibratory signals.A female-biased gender ratio induces rivalry and competition for a sexual partner.Female competition for males,first described among Heteroptera in three stinkbug species,revealed species specific differences and opened the question of plasticity in individually emitted temporal and frequency signal characteristics during calling and rival alternation.To address this question and gain an insight into the mechanisms underlying stinkbug female rivalry,we compared the characteristics of alternated signals in the southern green stinkbug Nezara viridula(Linnaeus,1758)(Hemiptera:Pentatomidae).Compared to male rivalry,female rivalry is more complex,lasts longer and runs through successive phases by a combination of different song types.The male pheromone triggers alternation between females,producing song pulses that occasionally overlap each other.One female initiates the rivalry by changing individual pulses into pulse trains of three different types.The competing female alternates with pulses of changed temporal characteristics at lower levels of rivalry and by varying the frequency characteristics of pulse trains at higher levels.During female rivalry,the male either stops responding or occasionally emits calling and courtship signals in response to the female that has produced signals of steady temporal characteristics.Female rivalry shows complex and species specific patterns of information exchange at different levels with a broad-range variation of temporal and frequency characteristics of,until now,unidentified vibratory emissions.

Passive Mediation in Persian Gulf Conflicts: An Analysis of Pakistan’s Peace Initiatives

Pakistan is a highly significant country for the Persian Gulf due to its geostrategic location,large workforce,being the only Muslim nuclear power and centuries of religious and cultural affinity.It is the second largest security guarantor of Saudi Arabia after the US and shares a border with Iran.Islamabad not only helped the Arab countries in institution building during their formative years,but also provided them support during security crises in the 20th century.Since 2001,regional dynamics changed Pakistan’s foreign policy towards Afghanistan vis-à-vis Iran.Islamabad decided to adopt the role of a passive mediator in Persian Gulf conflicts.For this purpose,it decided to stay neutral in the Saudi-led campaign in Yemen in 2015,which was a highly unexpected decision for the Saudi and Emirati ruling elites.In 2016,Pakistan defused tensions between the two Persian Gulf rivals,i.e.,Saudi Arabia and Iran.Later,Islamabad opted for neutrality in Qatar’s diplomatic crisis in 2017.With this backdrop,this study hypotheses that since 2001 Pakistan has successfully prevented conflict escalation in the Persian Gulf through‘passive mediation’.The study will focus on the following questions:what are Pakistan’s peace initiatives in Persian Gulf conflicts?How have these initiatives helped to de-escalate tensions and averted armed conflicts?What are Pakistan’s limitations in its mediation efforts during these conflicts?

The Economic Implications of the Israel-UAE Normalization Agreement in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden and the Potential Impacts on the GCC

The new relationship that has emerged between UAE and Israel,after the conclusion of the Abraham agreement,includes common economic orientations between both sides.There is potential cooperation within the navigational routes and strategic points in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden and this initial cooperation could open the way for a bilateral economic partnership.This research paper has two main goals:Firstly,to uncover the economic cooperation between Israel and UAE in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden by applying a methodology of qualitative case study.Secondly,exposing the repercussions of Israel-UAE economic cooperation on the future role of the Gulf Cooperation Council,specifically in the economic domain and addressing the factors accompanying this cooperation that may raise the level of competition among member states,especially between the UAE,Saudi Arabia and Qatar.By analysing these goals,the paper attempts to examine the possibilities that such economic cooperation between Israel and the UAE may pave the way towards future bilateral or multilateral alliances among different countries within the region.